Stamping Ground is a live album by Bill Bruford's Earthworks, released on EG Records in 1994. It was the final Earthworks album to feature Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Tim Harries. Four years later, Bruford would form a new version of Earthworks in a more traditional acoustic jazz vein.

Stamping Ground
Live album by Bill Bruford's Earthworks
Released	1994
Recorded	March 14, 1992 and May 22, 1992 (New York & Boston (US), Cambridge (UK))
Genre	Jazz fusion
Label	Summerfold Records
Producer	Bill Bruford, Derek Drescher
Bill Bruford's Earthworks chronology
All Heaven Broke Loose (1991) Stamping Ground (1994) Heavenly Bodies (1997)

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[2]

The AllMusic review by Bill Meredith awards this album with 4.5 stars and states: "Bruford's chordal patterns sound practically symphonic amid his epic starts and stops — further proof of the originality of one of the most musical drummers of all-time. Like all great live releases, Stamping Ground makes you wish you had been there."[3]

Writing for All About Jazz, John Kelman called the album "in some ways the most surprising record of Bruford's career to date," and noted that it "demonstrated what those fortunate enough to have caught the group in performance already knew—that despite Bruford's reputation for rigid structure in earlier projects within and outside his leadership, this was a group where every performance was, indeed, a new experience."[4]

Track listing

1. "Nerve" (Iain Ballamy) – 6:07
2. "Up North" (Ballamy, Bill Bruford) – 5:20
3. "A Stones Throw" (Ballamy, Django Bates, Bruford) – 8:26
4. "Pilgrim's Way" (Bruford) – 8:45
5. "Emotional Shirt" (Bates) – 6:01
6. "It Needn't End in Tears" (Ballamy) – 8:02
7. "All Heaven Broke Loose: I Psalm; II Old Song" (Ballamy, Bates, Bruford) – 7:46
8. "Candles Still Flicker in Romania's Dark" (Bates) – 6:41
9. "Bridge of Inhibition" (Ballamy, Bates, Bruford) – 10:58

Personnel

• Bill Bruford – acoustic and electronic drums, percussion
• Tim Harries – acoustic and fretless bass
• Iain Ballamy – soprano, alto and tenor saxophones
• Django Bates – keyboards, tenor horn, trumpet

References